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Rebels linked to al-Qaeda set to take Syrian airbase

David Enders

An image grab taken from a video uploaded on YouTube last November allegedly shows Syrian Islamist rebel groups delivering a speech rejecting the newly formed opposition bloc. Photo: AFP/YouTube

BEIRUT: A Syrian rebel group that the US has labelled an affiliate of al-Qaeda in Iraq appears on the verge of overrunning a government airbase used to launch helicopter strikes against rebel-held areas in Syria's north.

According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the offensive at Taftanaz, an airbase near the road that links the Syrian cities of Idlib and Aleppo, is being led by the Nusra Front, which the US State Department designated a terrorist organisation last month.

Ahrar al-Sham, another rebel group that, like the Nusra Front, wants to establish an Islamic state in Syria, is participating in the offensive, according to its internet postings.

A US State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, offered an upbeat assessment of the rebel advance on Thursday, saying the likely takeover of the base was a sign the abilities of the ''armed opposition'' were growing.

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She did not acknowledge in her remarks the assault on the base was spearheaded by the Nusra Front. State Department spokesmen did not respond to later requests for comment.

The latest fighting came as Britain said it would urge the European Union to ''amend'' its arms embargo on Syria to allow equipment such as body armour and chemical detectors to be given to the rebel alliance.

Last November, Britain ensured that the EU arms embargo on Syria was extended for only three months instead of a year.

The British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, said when this measure comes up for renewal before March 1, it should be watered down to allow the option of supplying a broader range of non-lethal equipment.

''We should send a strong signal to [Syrian leader Bashar al-] Assad that all options are on the table. We will therefore seek to amend the EU sanctions so that the possibility of additional assistance is not closed off,'' he said.

The Obama administration had hoped designating the Nusra Front a terrorist entity would channel aid to the rebels away from it and towards more moderate factions.

The designation, however, was immediately denounced by Sheikh Moaz al-Khatib, the head of the newly founded Syrian National Coalition, which the US has said should lead any post-Assad government.

A recent report by the Quilliam Foundation, an anti-extremist Muslim think tank in Britain, estimated Nusra now has about 5000 fighters.

The director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdurrahman, said he thought the Nusra Front made up ''30 to 40 per cent'' of the rebels' effective fighting force.

The rebels are likely to have benefited from snow and rain in the region that have prevented the Syrian government from using aircraft for much of the past four days. Rebels said the government instead had tried to use surface-to-surface missiles to attack them at the base and to destroy equipment they might capture.